James Brown

James Brown biography

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of funk music and is a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance. He has been referred to by himself and by others as "The Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", "Soul Brother Number One" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business".

Early life

James Brown was born in Barnwell, South Carolina on May 3, 1933 at 5:10pm to Susie Brown and Joseph ("Joe") Gardner (who changed his surname to Brown after Mattie Brown who raised him). Although Brown was to be named after his father Joseph, his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate. He therefore became James Joseph Brown, Jr. As a young child, Brown was called Junior. When he later lived with his aunt and cousin, he was called Little Junior since his cousin's nickname was also Junior.

As a young child, Brown and his family lived in extreme poverty in nearby Elko, South Carolina, which at the time was an impoverished town in Barnwell County. When Brown was two years old, his parents separated after his mother left his father for another man. After his mother abandoned the family, Brown continued to live with his father and his father's live-in girlfriends until he was six years old.

His father sent him to live with an aunt, who ran a house of prostitution.

During his childhood, Brown earned money shining shoes, sweeping out stores, selling and trading in old stamps, washing cars and dishes and singing in talent contests.

As an adult, Brown legally changed his name to remove the "Jr." designation. In his spare time, Brown spent time practicing his various skills in Augusta-area stalls and committing petty crimes. At the age of sixteen, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center upstate in Toccoa in 1949.

In 1952, while Brown was still in reform school, he met future R&B legend Bobby Byrd, who was there playing baseball against the reform school team. Byrd saw Brown perform there and admired his singing and performing talent. and baseball pitcher in semi-professional baseball (a career move ended by a leg injury), Brown turned his energy toward music.

Career

Brown's career spanned decades, and profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. Brown moves on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly Africanised approach to music making.

1955: The Famous Flames

In 1955, Brown and Bobby Byrd's sister Sarah performed in a group called "The Gospel Starlighters". Eventually, Brown joined Bobby Byrd's vocal group, the Avons, and Byrd turned the group's sound towards secular rhythm and blues. After the group's name was changed to The Flames, Brown and Byrd's group toured the Southern "chitlin' circuit". The group eventually signed a deal with the Cincinnati, Ohio-based label Federal Records, a sister label of King Records. Brown's early recordings were fairly straightforward gospel-inspired R&B compositions, heavily influenced by the work of contemporary musicians such as Ray Charles, Little Willie John, Clyde McPhatter and Little Richard.

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